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As a privacy and public policy adviser, Dipayan Ghosh once worked to improve Facebook from the inside. Now a fellow at the New America Foundation, from 2015 to 2017 Ghosh helped to develop Facebook’s public positions on issues related to privacy, telecommunications, and ethical algorithms. Ghosh, who previously served as a White House technology adviser under President Barack Obama, was troubled by the results of the 2016 election, and the role Facebook played in influencing voters. He quit his job at Facebook early last year and became a fellow at New America, a think tank focused on foreign policy, technology, and the economy. Together with Ben Scott, a senior adviser at New America, last week Ghosh published “ Digital Deceit: The... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2Gx7y7K"

Facebook is banning all advertisements for cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin and initial coin offerings, as part of an “intentionally broad” policy against deceptive marketers. Product management director Rob Leathern explained the decision in a blog post, saying Facebook will no longer accept ads that “promote financial products and services that are frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices.” He says the decision isn’t permanent, though, and that Facebook will revisit the rules when it’s gotten better at detecting and removing bad ads. “We want people to continue to discover and learn about new products and services through Facebook ads without fear of scams or deception. That said, there are many... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2EprGIw"

Health Without the FDA, we wouldn't know if a drug was safe or effective The FDA is an arduous process, but it's also really important. via Popular Science "http://ift.tt/2rUU7LA"

Most of Facebook's recent advertising changes have tried to curb the danger of, you know, a foreign government using the social network to influence elections. But Facebook believes other kinds of harmful ads prey on less-than-savvy users with get-rich-quick promises and trendy buzzwords. So the network is banning all advertisements that promote cryptocurrencies -- yes, even bitcoin -- because they are 'frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices.' Facebook's newest ad policy also prohibits promotions for binary options and initial coin offerings (ICOs) -- the advertisements that seem like they're shouted by an online carnival barker. "New ICO! Buy tokens at a 15 percent discount NOW!" reads one example on Facebook's blog post . Before you cry that some scammers are ruining the crypto game for everyone, Facebook admitted this policy is 'intentionally broad while we work to better detect deceptive and misleading a...

For victims of revenge porn and other explicit material shared without consent, legal remedies have arrived only within the last decade . But thanks to AI-assisted technology, anyone with an online presence could now end up starring in pornography against their will — and there’s very little that the law can do about it. For the past several weeks, a subreddit called “deepfakes” has been saturated with doctored images that depict famous figures, mostly women, engaging in sexual acts. “ScarJo, take three” shows Scarlett Johansson masturbating in a shower. “Taylor Swift” is a blurry-faced shot of the singer being penetrated. “Emma Watson sex tape” features the actress stripping. Their faces are believably mapped onto pornographic pictures,... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2nrFFWc"

Anaheim’s National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) show featured plenty of traditional instruments, but as always, there was also a lot of cool music tech. From pro DJ hardware to gadgets that upgrade the instruments you already own to innovative music education tools and apps, NAMM showed that now, more than ever, the worlds of music and tech are intersecting in interesting ways. Aside from checking out the newest pro-level gear in areas like DJing, speakers, and headphones, there were two categories that caught my attention at NAMM. They were products that tackled music education and gadgets that were third-party add-ons for instruments and hardware people already own. On the education side, Blipblox was one of the more... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2DRfnHN"

Ever since Facebook finally admitted to having a fake news problem , it's been trying to fix it. It hired thousands of people to help block fake ads, pledged to work with t hird-party fact-checking organizations and is busy building algorithms to detect fake news. But even as it attempts to fight back against fraudulent ads and made-up facts, another potential fake news threat looms on the horizon: Artificially generated fake video. Motherboard recently uncovered a disturbing new trend on Reddit, where users create AI-generated pornographic clips by swapping other people's faces onto porn stars. The outlet first reported on the phenomenon a month ago when Reddit user "deepfakes" posted a video of Gal Gadot's face swapped onto a porn star's body (he's since created more fake porn with other celebrities). According to Motherboard , the video was created with machine learning algorithms, easily accessible open-source libraries and images from Google, ...

After it launched with mixed reviews , more than 100 child development experts, health advocacy groups, educators, and parents have called on Facebook to shut down Messenger Kids , a spinoff of the company’s messenger app that’s specifically designed for children ages six to 12. The collective, led by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, addressed its open letter to CEO Mark Zuckerberg , warning that the app is “harmful to children and teens,” and that it could “undermine children’s healthy development.” The app, which debuted in December, was created as a workaround for parents who want to communicate with their children via Facebook, but cannot use the regular version since federal law prohibits children under the age of 13 from... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2BEWD8o"

In December, Apple admitted to slowing older models of iPhones , saying the practice kept older phones with aging batteries from suddenly rebooting. Apple is now facing multiple lawsuits in the US and abroad as well as an investigation in France . And now, Bloomberg reports, the US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission are looking into whether the company's handling of the slowdowns violated any securities laws. Bloomberg's sources said that government officials had asked Apple for information, but they also made it clear that the probe is in its early stages. What, if any, action will be taken by the agencies is still up in the air as of now. After Apple's slowdowns became public knowledge, the company apologized and reduced its battery replacement price . With an upcoming OS update -- iOS 11.3 -- Apple will let iPhone users monitor their batteries' health and choose whether to activate reboot-preventing slowdowns . Earlier this month...

The family of Robert Godwin Sr., a Cleveland man whose killing was shared on Facebook video, has sued the platform for negligence and wrongful death. Fox 8 Cleveland reports that the suit was filed on January 19th, accusing Facebook of conduct that was “intentional, willful, malicious, in bad faith, and in reckless disregard for the right of Mr. Godwin.” It says Facebook should have spotted and alerted police to a video where Godwin’s shooter announced his intent to kill, shortly before he uploaded a video of the actual shooting. When Godwin was killed in April 2017, Facebook faced criticism for its response to the incident. It left the video of Godwin’s death online for nearly two hours, and it didn’t catch a brief live video of suspect... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2BEoVzO"

One of the more fun results of the age of infinite apps is serialized fiction, presented in installments so tiny that calling them “digestible” is sort of like calling a single almond “dinner.” There are good chat fiction apps that use texting as the medium for compelling stories. There are bad romance novels that are more fun to read with GIFs . There’s also Yarn, a chat fiction app owned by Mammoth Media. Mammoth raised $13 million in a Series A round of funding today, as reported by Variety , and the release of a new horror series Hack’d (!!!) was timed to the announcement. Hack’d stars Musical.ly influencer Kristen Hancher, and was directed by Chris Le, whose biggest credit is a robot drug cartel movie called Juarez 2045 . I love horror... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2nn05QK"

Apple is facing a new investigation from both the US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission that looks to determine whether or not the company has violated securities laws with its software updates that slowed down users’ iPhones , according to a new report from Bloomberg . The news comes as the latest in a string of inquiries into Apple’s software updates, with the company also facing a criminal probe in France (where planned obsolescence is illegal), an investigation from Italy’s antitrust organization , and multiple class action lawsuits . For now, the US government’s investigation is said to be in the early stages, and it’s still unclear if anything will actually come of it. Late last year, Apple confirmed... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2rSDNew"

Gesture controls without clear navigation bars aren’t just for the iPhone X. Some Android smartphones let users save screen real estate by using home button gestures, and now OnePlus’ newest Oreo beta build for the OnePlus 5T includes a feature that disables the navigation bar and instead prioritizes gestures. We haven’t had a chance to test this yet, but Reddit user MisterMrMister uploaded a video of the gesture controls in action. You can see that the phone’s navigation bar is missing, but the user is still able to pull up different pages, toggle between windows, and exit apps. MisterMrMister says, “The gesture for going home is pretty smooth and responsive, including going to the recent app overview.” The user continues to note that... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2BEDljD"

iPhone X owners may soon be able to use Face ID to approve family purchases. As spotted by 9to5Mac , in iOS 11.3, purchase approvals on a parent’s device can be done through Face ID, after a one-time request to enter their password. Previously, iPhone X owners found the Ask to Buy iOS feature that allows parents to control what children buy with their phone didn’t work with Face ID. Parents had to enter their passwords manually for every purchase, to the chagrin of many customers . It’s a minor quality of life improvement that Apple is implementing into iOS 11.3, but it’s one of several, including new Animoji , more insight into battery health , an update for ARKit , and the ability to send your location to others in emergencies. Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2DMzF1c"